Wednesday, February 5, 2014

It's been a while since I've blogged, and those who are following my @truegryc Twitter or LinkedIn profiles know that I've now left QNX to start my own venture, CX3 Marketing. I'm sure I'll have lots to say about that, but the first thing I wanted to blog about was switching my phone.

I've had a BlackBerry Z30 for the last few months, and I loved it. Problem is that it was a prototype device--I got it by volunteering as a beta tester--and as a prototype, I couldn't keep it after leaving QNX. QNX did however let me keep my Z10, so this last weekend I made the process of downgrading back to the Z10.

Don't get me wrong: I still love the Z10. I used to have a personal iPhone and a work BlackBerry. When I got a Z10 as a new work phone, I realized that I preferred it to the iPhone, and I dropped the two-phone-juggling act. But I really miss my Z30. Why? The Z30 runs the same BB10 OS and isn't that much different is it? No--I'm not going through complete withdrawal. Just a little bit! Here are my top three Z30 features that I'm sad to be without.

1) The screen. Yes, this one is obvious from the specs, since the Z30 has a bigger 5" screen than the Z10's 4.2". It's not that much bigger when you lay the phones on top of each other, but it's enough that typing now seems more cramped than I'm used to. The Z30 has a Super AMOLED that's brighter and has more contrast. Overall, just a lot nicer to look at when you're spending a lot of time looking at the screen.

2) The radio. This is not at all obvious, since you probably wouldn't know the Z30 had a FM radio. But with the latest OS release, they added radio support to the Music player. I listen to music on my phone a lot while working, while biking/jogging, and while driving. And having a radio built in lets me switch to CBC when I'm bored of the 32GB of music on my SD card. I had been testing that release for a while, and I loved the radio feature. Unfortunately, the Z10 doesn't have a radio in the hardware, so I'm back to listening to radio in the car only.

3) The battery. You know how everyone has a ritual about plugging their phone at night to start the day topped up? I had gotten lazy with the Z30, because it would last two days on a charge--easy. The Z10 can't do that. End of day, and it's whimpering about needing some juice. I don't know the milliamp difference between the two batteries, but it was hugely noticeable when I switched back because I had to go back to my nightly plugging habits.

Maybe if my new company is successful, I'll spring for a Z30. Or maybe there will be something even better by then. Heck, maybe I'll even consider the painful process of switching families. But for now, I'm back to my trusty old Z10.